The benefits of being a night owl!

...and other random tidbits of my week...

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Now I got your attention! ^^ We often read articles or hear our parents say how important it is to get your 8 hours of sleep a day, and sleep early for a healthy lifestyle. I cannot emphasize how important it is to head to bed early instead of being a night owl, because on the days that I actually do get to bed early enough, I can SEE my glowy skin the next day -- they call it "beauty sleep" for a reason! However, I'm embarrassed to admit that I have been sleeping way past midnight more often that I would like to be, because of my heavy workload this semester. Plus being addicted to beauty blogs doesn't help the situation, I'm always refreshing and checking out who has just updated :p

Now that I talked about the importance of sleeping and going to bed early, so none of my readers will be misled, I'll explain why I benefited from being a night owl (once) :p

As usual, I was taking a "study break" and browsing around blogger to check out updates, when Mihoko's blog popped up. Turned out she was also still awake, and had a giveaway for the first person who responded and told her why they were still awake! The prize? A Lunasol Eyeshadow Geminate eyes 01 CE, the best selling shades from the Lunasol Geminate collection, and also my VERY FIRST Lunasol palette! I was beyond ecstatic when I found out that I had won. Mihoko's package arrived really fast, and she even included a lovely note! Thank you so much sweetie! If you guys haven't checked out her online store, you definitely should. She sells a lot of Japanese makeups that have been on my wishlist forever (Jill Stuart blushes and eye jellies, one day you will be mine)!

Look at how pretty the Lunasol palette is! I love love love it! :D

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My second Sephora package arrived today! I decided to make a last minute haul before the F&F sale ended last weekend. Here are what I got:

An Orgasm/Laguna Blush Bronzer Duo and Orgasm Nail Polish Set. These are the two colors from NARS that I've wanted to try forever! The set is a great value ($35) because just purchasing the duo alone costs $37 on Sephora, plus the set comes with an Orgasm nail polish. It's a pretty sheer peach color that would look great as an everyday polish. I have yet to test out the stay power of NARS nail polishes as this is my first bottle.

Yay now I can finally say that I own a NARS Orgasm blush! I can't wait to try it out and see what everyone's raving about in this blush :)

Fresh Sugar Wish Gift Set -- which comes with a full sized Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment (with SPF 15), and a 1/2 sized Fresh Brown Sugar Body Cream (3.4 oz), which I heard applies smooth and feels non-greasy (a big plus for me!) The combo set I bought came in a gold makeup pouch, and was $28 dollars. It was a good value considering that these were two products I've wanted to try, and together they cost a lot less than if I had to buy them separately.

I tried the lip treatment as soon as I got the package. I am impressed! It's very very hydrating, and made my lips feel smooth. It'll be a great overnight lip treatment, especially since my lips have been chapped often after the cold weather came around. I love the packaging of the lip treatment as well, it has a metal casing, with a screw on top, which makes it feel so sturdy and nice, compared to a regular plastic tube of chapstick. With that said, I am not sure if I would repurchase anytime soon (plus I am hoping it won't run out that quickly!), because it is a very pricey lip balm at $22.5 each.

The Sephora catalog that came with the package and my three samples.

A little update about my "Project No Buy" (I'm keeping progress on the left sidebar of my blog): since I couldn't resist myself and made another Sephora haul with makeup items, I am making the start date of my makeup no buy Nov. 1 instead (the last day I made a purchase on Sephora). I actually didn't hit pan on any makeup in the month of October anyway, so I'll start over! It's going to be hard to resist with all the F&F sales that are going on, and with the holidays coming, but I will try again! Wish me luck :)

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The Face Shop booth stopped by my local Asian plaza again! I tested out their nail polish remover and was pleasantly surprised by how well it removed my glittery nail polish! I especially love the pink one because it is strawberry scented, so it doesn't have such a pungent acetone smell when you open the bottle. So why so many bottles you ask? haha it was because the boyfriend didn't carry any cash and the minimum for cc was $10! lol but he said it was okay, cuz I'll use them up quickly anyway. I change nail polishes so often nowadays since the start of my nail polish addiction :p To push it up to $10, the sales lady also suggested me to try out the base coat (in pink -- it shows up clear on my nails though), and I grabbed a yellow nail polish since I've always wanted one.

I highly recommend these TFS nail polish removers, even though they come in a small bottle, but they take off polishes pretty easily and I found myself to actually use less of it every time compared to my Sally Hansen one that I normally use (probably because the Sally Hansen one doesn't contain acetone). Another benefit of these TFS ones is that the top is not completely open but the solution drips out through one tiny hole on the cap. This is great for Miss Clumpsy like me, since I've tipped over and dumped a whole bunch of nail polish remover on the floor before :p They retail for $2 each at my local TFS.

I also bought a cuticle cutter to practice some basic manicure at home. I wonder how come I've never owned one of these before! They are so easy to use and can pick out the tiniest hang nails in the toughest to reach corners!

I have a confession to make: I might be addicted to NARS cosmetics @_@

Last week, the bf was nice enough to buy me these:

NARS Duo Lipgloss Trio (buy here)

NARS Deep Throat blush + Lip gloss in Striptease

I am loving these NARS lip glosses! They have great staying power, and are not too sticky (I don't like sticky glosses -- they are especially bad on a windy day since I usually wear my hair down).

I gotta say though, even though the bf was happy to pay, he did not approve those interesting names NARS named their cosmetics, HAHAHAHA, he gave me this weird stare when I told him the shade names :p hehehehe it was part of the fun!

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Lulu can make bread! We decided to try make our own bread at home -- who doesn't love fresh, warm bread! We tried out several recipes and these two turned out the best: Hokkaido milky loaf, and cinnamon raisin bread. the milky loaf is my favorite (and I guess so was the bf's because I only got two slices of the whole thing before he finished it off -- I think he woke up before me and snuck to the kitchen to munch on those before I even went upstairs!!!), it has the perfect soft cotton-y texture and just the right amount of milky sweetness. *drool*


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So when I finished checking out blog updates twice, went through all the youtube videos I possibly want to watch, ate, watched news, and played with Mia twice, what else do I do to procrastinate? I made jewelries!

When I saw those black bows in the charms section at Michael's, I knew I had to get them! I simply attached a faux pearl on the bottom, and a pair of earring hooks on top, and viola! It's love love love!

This layered bracelet is attached with a bunch of random charms, locks and key set is definitely my favorite to add onto any jewelry, plus a ton of faux pearls, and love, joy, hope charms.

Another angle of the bracelet.

Hope you liked everything! I better go get my beauty sleep soon! Until next time...

xoxo, Lulu

ps - I think I watched too much Gossip Girl recently... :p

October Favorites!

I'm terribly sorry for being late on talking about my last month's favorite product. The first week of November passed by SO fast, I can't believe it's already the weekend!

This month, I loved using:

Click on picture to enlarge!

♥ Clarisonic Mia -- This was love at first sight (use). Not only is it super easy to use, super cute, easy to take to travel with, and it's PINK! Best of all, it really did wonders for my skin! I use this twice a day, in the morning with my Cetaphil face wash, and in the night with...you guessed it, Cetaphil, except the oily/combo skin version that has more cleansing power and would help me to take off any residual traces of makeup that my cleansing oil might not have. I like using Cetaphil with the Clarisonic brush because it's foam free, and therefore less messy to use over the sink. I also heard Philosophy's Purity Made Simple works well with the Clarisonic, I shall be trying that next after I am done with my current bottle of Cetaphil.

Ever since I started using Clarisonic, I've noticed that my skin has been a lot smoother, which is awesome because it makes any skin products I use right afterward absorb into my skin like a dream. Also, I've noticed the one pimple on my forehead when I started using Clarisonic had dried up and flattened the day after I started my new routine, the gentle yet effective brush head drove the nasty gunk out of my pimple! Awesome!

Oh and of course, the most important reason I am love my Clarisonic Mia is because it shares the same name with my Mia Catcat! hehehe just kidding :p


♥ LUSH Smitten Hand Cream -- It's an yummy almond milk scented, nourishing hand cream. It smells like my favorite LUSH soap Snowcake.

♥ Essie Matte About You -- This topcoat transforms any colors of nail polish into a matte finish. Instead of buying individual bottles of matte polishes, this one bottle does it all. So when the trend dies down after the season, I won't end up with bottles and bottles of matte polishes.

♥ Sephora by OPI 212 -- This is the perfect color for winter! It's a smokey black color with tons of various sized sparkles that looks gorgeous under the sun.

♥ LUSH the Big Tease -- A little bit of this hair cream goes a long way, and really does a good job controlling any flyaways. It's the best smelling hair products I've used -- smells like LUSH Olive Branch solid perfume!

♥ Smith's Rosebud Salve -- I've been using this ever since I finished my manuka honey lip balm (I can't believe I finished a lip balm completely!). I use it as my night lip treatment. It smells really pleasant, and does a pretty good job keeping my lips moisturized for the night.

♥ Yes to Carrots C Through the Dry Spell Delicious Rich Body Butter -- I put this one every night after I get out of the shower to keep my skin moisturized. It is important to moisturize, especially since the weather has gotten cooler. This body butter comes in a huge jar. It smells pretty nice. I love its texture, it's really easy to absorb and feels non-greasy, which is a big plus for me, I hate the feeling of greasiness in my hands after I apply moisturizers. It's a really good drug store body butter!

♥ Cover Girl Lash Blast -- I've been using this mascara only for the past month instead of switching a different one everyday because I am trying to work on my Project 10 Pan, hahaha. I like Lash Blast for the volume it gives to my lashes, the huge wand does take a little getting used to though!

♥ Stila Lip Glaze (Raspberry) -- pssstt...here is a secret -- I don't like raspberry scent! So why do I like this product? Well the raspberry scent in this lipgloss is really faint so it doesn't bother me much. The color is pretty, and Stila lip glazes are really easy to use and take along. I've been actively using this lip gloss daily for Project 10 Pan, hahaha :)

So here are my favorite products to use for the month of October. What are your favorites? Please share :)

Hope you are having an awesome weekend!

Halloween NOTD & Love package from May!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! Bf and I didn't do anything for Halloween this year, we went to the mall and watched little kiddies all dressed up and getting candies from stores :p In the spirit of Halloween though, I did my nails yesterday:


I put two layers of OPI Glow in the Dark nail polish in Ghostess with the Mostess (white), then on top I used CoverGirl's Crackle Lacquer in Blue Moon. This Crackle polish is really cool, it cracks by itself upon drying. I thought it's very appropriate for Halloween yea? For base I used Essie Sensitivity Base Coat, and for topcoat I used OPI RapiDry.

What made my Halloween so special was not the trick-o-treats or the costumes, but a surprise love package from my dear May!

May is the Queen of Masks! She also got me addicted to collecting sheet masks recently :) Look at all the masks she sent me!


She mentioned to me about how she loves the 6-pack/box My Beauty Diary masks in Camellia and wanted me to try it as well. But little did I know, she gave me so much more! She also got me MBD in Platinum Nanocolloid, White Truffle Fantastic Whitening, and Japanese Cherry Blossom. Look at how pretty the packagings for these masks are! She also got me some VOV masks to try! There are the wash off types in green tea collagen and mud, as well as a sheet mask in sake nori. Sounds so yum! hehehe I can't wait to try out my new masks. Thank you so much Love!


May is also a Hello Kitty lover! She got me this adorable HK shower cap and Winnie the Pooh towel, these are two of my favorite colors: pink, and baby blue :) yay for our matching shower caps now!


Then I pulled out this big Shiseido makeup bag, what could possibly be in it!


More goodies! She got me some yummy white milk tea powders and Meltyblend candy, packed in these super kawaii Hello Kitty ziplogs, where did you get these May! She also got me makeup stuff to try out -- Marie Claire green makeup primer, China Glaze nail polish, Kevin Beautymaker Mineral Concealing Cream, a Skin Food mushroom BB cream, bareMinerals iQuad eyeshadow palette, and a pack of oil blotting tissue :) Thank you so much for all the lovely goodies, I love them all! Thank you for being such an awesome and loving friend, May! *hugs*


In one of our email conversations, I told May that I was interested in trying out the BM concealer. She told me that she has one that she no longer uses and wanted to send it to me to try! I've heard a few great reviews on this product. Here is the concealer in the middle, it comes in a tiny white squeeze tube. It is really small in size, I put the China Glaze nail polish bottle (full sized) on the side for size comparison. But it's also great for carrying around in makeup bags because of its size. I like the squeeze tube much better than concealers in a tub since it is more sanitary. It didn't crease on me and covered up my under eye circles pretty well, however, it looked a bit drying under my eyes, so it accentuated the laugh line under my eyes even more! -- that's not good! I think for spot treatment it works pretty well, however for under eye concealer I still prefer to use my CoverBlend concealer.

I also tried the Marie Claire Designing Makeup Base SPF 15 PA+ in green. It comes in this adorable frosted pump bottle. I've never heard of this brand before, the writing on the package is in Korean, and the only thing recognizable is "Made in Korea", hahaha. I like it so far! I love green primers because it helps to neutralize the redness on my cheeks :)

Little haul from yesterday: Hello Kitty hats! I couldn't decide which color I wanted, black or white...so the bf decided for me -- BOTH! hahaha I love him :) If I had to choose, I think I like the white one better though :)

Love pack, blogger meet & Sephora F&F haul

Another combined post with a little bit of everything :)

Blogger Loves:

Eki and I both ordered a variety of sheet masks from Sasa a few weeks ago, and we decided to do a mask exchange so we can try out all the masks we got :) She is such a sweetie and specifically asked me on Twitter what my favorite colors were, and sent along these baby blue and pink colored hair bows :) She got me the Catena Collagen Vitamin C Eye Masks, which she reviewed here. I've never tried crystal masks before, the texture looks so soft and soothing, I can't wait to try them out! She also got me Kuan Yuan Liang's whitening sheet mask, along with a pretty and sparkly Rimmel lipgloss and a Burt's Bees lipbalm (*heart* Burt's Bees), along with some yummy candies. I am also really excited to try out the Revlon Fantasy Lengths false eyelashes she got me, I need to practice how to put on falsies! :) Thank you so much sweetie! I hope you liked the Beauty Story masks I got you too :)


Eki also sent me her newly designed business card for her super kawaii store EkiLove. Make sure you check it out, she makes adorable hair bows and super cute makeup pouches, earrings, and more! By the way, she is having a free shipping deal going on right now, today is the LAST day! So act quick :)


I also had the chance to meet up with Kalmo last week and had dinner with her. We went to Sushi House in Alameda, and had some yummy sushi, and some great conversations. It was so nice to catch up with her. It was right after her tortuous week with midterms and papers due, that poor girl looked so tired when we went to pick her up! I hope you are well rested by now Kalmo :) oo and of course, Kalmo was sweet as ever and got me so much goodies, along with the my Zoya matte velvet nail polish in Harlow that we ordered together last time. She got me more masks to try out! I can't wait to try out the bird's nest/ginseng/fish roe mask, it sounds so fancy and nourishing! I am also really curious about the Tina's Dresser masks (the white packagings), since they come in an upper half and a lower half separately for easy application, I am curious to see how that works out! She also got me some cute oil absorbing sheets, some DHC samples, and threw in another Zoya polish in Piper for me! On top of that, she gave me one of her O'Slee sleeping mask! I love sleeping masks, because it's the best solution for lazy people like me, you just put on a thin layer of the mask at night right before you sleep, and then rince off in the morning to a smoother face!

Food pictures from Kalmo's camera --
Lion king roll -- my favorite at the Sushi House:My pork katsu dunburi:
The bf's bento box:

Hauls:

This weekend, the boyfriend and I had The Boiling Crab cravings and decided to drive to San Jose for some yummy shrimps in she-bang sauce and sweet potato fries (my favorite!). While in the city, I also got to stop by LUSH to stock up on bubble bars -- I don't live close to a LUSH so I wanted to stock up with this chance since I love taking bath with LUSH bubble bars. I also got a little chunk of the Snowcake Soap -- it's the yummiest smelling soap ever, and reminds me of almond milk tea! Ever since Mona mentioned it last year, I've been dying for the Christmas season to return so I can get this from the LUSH holiday collection.


Today, my haul from Sephora F&F sale finally arrived :) I know, I know, I am suppose to be on a no buy ban right now, but I just couldn't resist such a good deal and to finally get my hands on a Clarisonic Mia. I got the pink one, of course :) I've read so much wonderful reviews about how much the product has improved people's skin, and I want to have beautiful skin too :) I hope it'll work wonders for me!

I also grabbed a really pretty Sephora by OPI nail polish in 212 -- a dark, shimmery smokey black color with all sorts of pretty glitters, shimmers, and sparkles in it = perfect for the winter time :)

Finally, some super kawaii hello kitty bows I found this weekend, not sure what to make with them yet!


That's it for today! I have a few reviews that I am writing up and will be posting soon, so please stay tuned :)

Love packs, a little bit of haul + review

I have been resting at home today because of a terrible shoulder/backache that bugged me all night long :( I couldn't even lift my right arm above my shoulder or else it would start hurting! Do you guys know any remedies that will make me feel better? I've taken the painkillers and had ice/hot pads on my shoulder, but none of which helped much yet :(

But no worries, love packages in the mail and a little haul always cures everything (mentally at least :p).

♥♥♥ I finally SWAPPED! Last month, I was browsing through Jojo's blog and noticed in her "looking for..." section that she was looking for a L'Oreal linear intense liquid eyeliner. I happen to have an unopened backup in my makeup drawer and offered to send it to her. Instead of Paypal-ing me for it, we decided to make it into a swap instead, because it's more fun that way. Since Jojo lives in New Zealand, even though she sent out the package a while ago, it took forever for it to arrive through the postal system, I was beyond ecstatic when I saw her package (still well sealed and intact) on my front porch!

When I went to New Zealand for vacation last winter, I had purchased a few Wild Ferns manuka honey items that I absolutely love. So this time, I asked her to send me some more, plus some kiwi flavored goodies. But she went above and beyond and included SO much more! She got me a set of nice smelling soaps in lanolin, honey and kiwi -- New Zealand's three most well known things. My favorite lipbalm -- Wild Ferns manuka honey lip balm, and its matching hand sanitizer which took Jojo some extra effort to find and send to me! Kiwifruit lipbalm with SPF, and a kiwifruit flavored soap. I am really interested in the mask she included, it is a thermal mud face mask, it kind of reminds me of the MAC volcanic ash mask, I can't wait to try it out! What's more is she got me my first MAC Powerpoint pencil in this lovely dark purple, a Smashbox eyeshadow trio that she was originally selling in her blogsale, AND a Majorlica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus mascara that has been on my wish list forever! Can you imagine how excited I was when I saw it in Jojo's lovely package? She also got my favorite chocolates -- Flakes, Maltesers, and lots of yummy candies, good thing I took a picture of them right away, they are nowwhere to be seen now, the bf and I fought for our share and happily stored them in our tummies :)

Thank you for all the goodies you sent me Jojo! And thanks so much for being my FIRST swap buddy :) I also hope you liked all the stuff I sent to you!

♥♥♥ Good things always come in pairs! I received Dana's package on the same day that I received Jojo's. I was the lucky winner to Dana's contest earlier. I feel so lucky to have won because Dana had some really awesome prizes!

Look at all those bows, I am now the proud owner of more Eki bows and GS&P hair bows, AND DSK jewelries! Yayyyyy!!! Dana also gave me some adorable bandaids with Hello Kitty on them! a few cute dangling ornaments and a pair of super cute Guess earrings. She also gave me a bunch of ELF/Costal Scents brushes, a few of which that I've been wanting to try, I love the ELF Studio Line eyeshadow C brush and the small precision brush! Both of them are super useful! Thank you so much sweetie! I also wanted to use this chance to say that I am so glad to have met you through blogger, we have been emailing back and forth a few times and getting to know each other a little better, and I feel like we are already good friends :)

♥♥♥ Now onto some of my hauls recently:
Today I got another Sasa package. I know I know, ever since Sasa had the free shipping promotion, I've been on the site all the time checking for goodies to buy. One night, I found these -- A box of 22 sheet masks (not individually packed) that you take out as daily treatments for 5 minutes (or more). The best part is the price, they are only $8.90 (if I remember correctly) a box, for 22 masks that will last you almost a month if you use one everyday! I also really like how this mask has the little flaps that can cover up the eye area as well. Most mask I use leave too big of a hole for eyes and I always feel the bottom of my eyes aren't moisturized and nourished as well as the rest of my face. I got two boxes to try out, the top (blue) one is for whitening, and the bottom (yellow) one contains hyaluronic acid. Also included in my package are these tiny tubes of Suisse message cream and face mask that I chose as free gifts from Sasa's point reward program. I have accumulated quite a lot of points on Sasa over the past few months, so I figured I should redeem some of the points for a few more samples to try out!


I also stopped by my school's bookstore to purchase a huge pack of special 25% cotton paper to print my Thesis on. They are so pricey (for printer papers), but it's well worth it considering that they will help me to graduate by this December, right? hehehe :) I also picked up some adorable bookmarks. The ones on the right are called "book bracelet", I've never used one before, they are so cute aren't they!

From Target, more Hello Kitty goodies, because I can never get sick of collecting anything HK related :) A whiteboard for writing down things I suddenly remember to do when I am in my vanity area doing makeup/putting on skincare, a HK bottle of handwash, HK stamps, and HK beaded bracelet/necklace that look too childish for me to wear, but I'm sure I'll find some use for them :)


♥♥♥ At RiteAid, I bought a new lipbalm:

EOS (the evolution of smooth) lip balm in honeysuckle honeydew

This lipbalm originally sells for $3.29 at my local Rite Aid, however it was on sale this week for $1.99. I have heard about this dome-shaped lipbalm for a while now, and always wanted to get my hands on one of these mainly because of my curiosity about its interesting shape :) What also draws me to these is the fact that these lipbalms are 95% organic, 100% natural, and contains no artificial ingredients such as petrolatum and paraben! It contains shea butter, jojoba oil, and vitamin E.

At first just by looking at the packaging, I thought the rounded part that the lady in the picture put next to her lips is a roller ball, but turns out the whole dome is your lipbalm goodness! Instead of like a potted lipbalm where you have to stick your finger in to dab some onto your lips, this inverted pot makes application a lot easier.

Applied onto my lips, it feels kind of waxy, it drags a little and doesn't feel extremely smooth, but the hydration it gives lasted a long time!

Pro:
- 95% organic, 100% natural, good for people who are allergic to petrolatum and paraben.
- applies on clear: good for guys too
- smells yummy
- moisturizes for a long time
- can see how much product is left
- ergonomic design/easy to hold

Con:
- too bulky and weird to carry around in pocket
- can't get a precise application around corners of mouth
- contains no SPF

If my review didn't convince you to try it, then let Chuck Bass do!

More Hauls ^^

I love package days :)

I got another package from Sasa today, this time, masks! When Sasa had the free shipping promotion, the first thing I went to look for are the sheet masks. I found these Beauty Story masks, they came in a variety types of essence/flavors, and some of them were already running out by the time I checked! So I grabbed whatever I could into my cart, haha. They come in a pack of 10 for only $6.20, such a good deal! I figured since these are so inexpensive, that I can use these for everyday, and save my more expensive sheet masks for once a week pampering :) I hope these masks are as good as the My Beauty Diary ones, since some reviews said these two are from the same mother company in Taiwan :)


Sakura Q10 Essence Mask: good for whitening/brightening and tightening of skin.


Sakura Whitening Essence Mask: whitening, moisturizing, repairing.


Herbs Cleaning Mask: clarifying skin, balance sebum secretion, for flawless skin.


Sakura Hyaluronic Acid Mask: moisturizing and whitening/brightening.


I also got something tiny from DHC after hearing about their free shipping deal last week. I've never really tried anything from DHC before, besides their sample packs of deep cleansing oil, which I really like! But since I still have two bottles of cleansing oil to go through, I decided to skip this time. What caught my eyes were these Calcium/Magnesium supplement, they were on sale for only $2 a bag (crazy right!!!) for a 30 day supply. And I was just about to go out to my Costco to grab another bottle of calcium since I ran out. Yay for healthy bones and teeth :) I really like how nice DHC customer service is, they shipped out this package from New jersey as soon as possible, and I appreciate them letting customers choose so many samples during checkout, so we get to try out different potential products to buy!


Isn't this eye wrinkle stick sample extremely cute!


After my bf showed me this link, I immediately added this cute little Panda flash drive to my wishlist because I thought it was the cutest thing ever :) So when I spotted it on the shelves at Fry's today, I had to get it! I am going to use this for work, hehehehe :p


And lastly, something the bf got me today because he was being oh so nice! A set of 3 mini OPI Halloween nail polishes. Ghotess with the Mostess and Boo-berry are glow in the dark nail polishes (can't wait to see how they work!), and Pumped-up Pumpkin would be a perfect orange-red fall color to wear :) Thanks honey!

Recent hauls, gifts, & lots of updates

Hi lovelies, hope everyone have been doing well! Sorry for the rather lack of updates for the past week! It has been a hectic week for me, but I've got exciting news! Last night, I finished up the last set of experiments I have to do for my masters degree, now all that is left for me to do is a thesis. I am so close to being done! :)

I also have lots of goodies to share with you guys, so let's get started!

♥ As I mentioned before, Clinique at Macy's is offering GWP (gift with purchase) with any purchase of $21.50 or above. Last week, I dragged the bf to the mall after work to grab some Clinique products to try. I just ran out of my Burt's Bees tomato toner, so I wanted to get my skin tested and give the highly popular and praised Clinique toner a try. The lovely sales associate suggested me to try #3, for oily/combination skin people who are oily in the T-zone, but comfortable (not too oily, not flaky either) in the cheeks. I am loving it so far! Some people don't like the witch hazel smell in Clinique toners, but I don't mind it. I also wanted to get a toner for the BF. The sales associate gave him the glass bottled toner from the Men's line to try, but he hated it, because it felt too drying with the alcohol in it. So I suggested him to try the Mild Clarifying one, and he's hooked! Every night he comes to my makeup table (where the toner is stored) and starts wiping it all over his face. hahaha :p I hope his skin will start clarify after continued usage!

For my GWP, they gave me this nice and big makeup bag filled with goodies. If you are interested in trying out some Clinique stuff while the GWP promotion is still going on, check out the details here.


♥ I met up with the super sweet Kalmo from Cambo Soup again last week :) We visited her lovely and cozy apartment, and saw her cat, Brody for the first time. He was quite the shy one (compared to Mia) haha, I love his fluffy tails and how scared he looked when I went to say Hi to him! :) She had an awesome promotion code for BOGO Zoya nail polishes and we decided to order some together. This was my first time trying out Zoya nail polishes. I really wasn't sure what colors to get, so I chose all my polishes based on names, hahaha :p From left to right, I got:
Mia ♥, Summer (Edna's Summer Catcat), Lulu (for obvious reason! hehehe), Sunny, and Jade. I also ordered a polish from their Winter 09 Matte collection (Harlow) but Zoya is shipping that out later because it was out of stock at the time.

♥ Last Friday, I had to drive to Edna's town for a work related meeting, and obviously I had to stop by Edna's place to say Hi to her. I also brought over her EARLY birthday presents (her bday is in November!) because we've been both extremely busy this semester, and I know I won't get to see her again soon *sob*. When I got to her place, she was getting ready to leave for her mini-getaway to Tahoe. So we didn't get to hang out too much this time. She knew how much I am into nail polishes recently, so she was sweet enough to give me her OPI Russian Navy (Matte) that she just bought. Thank you so much love! It was my first matte nail polish and I love how it looks! Especially on my toes :) The only bad thing about matte polishes is that they chip so easily. Oh well, it just gives me an excuse to play with my nails more often :) Edna also got me a few packs of her favorite fruit snack at the moment, it's so good! I've got to get some more of these. (btw, I think she bought these because it says SUMMER strawberry on it, right? hehe :p)

♥ On the way home on Friday, we passed by an outlet mall. I've been wanting to check out CCO (Cosmetic Company Outlet) store ever since I heard that they started selling MAC Hello Kitty items. Sadly, the only thing they had when I went in was the HK beauty powder in Tahitian Sand, and they were sold out on anything else that they might have had. I wanted the two HK blushes so badly, and more lipglosses or lipsticks. Now I wish I had bought more HK items back when MAC was selling them at the beginning of the year :( I bought the Tahitian Sand anyway, so it can accompany my Pretty Baby beauty powder I bought back in February.


♥ From the Coach store, the bf bought me a pair of new sunglasses. I always complain about how most sunglasses don't fit on the bridge of my nose but on my cheeks instead, leaving two ugly red marks every time I take off my sunglasses. I found a pair at Coach that fits my face perfectly! Yay!! New love!


♥ At the Sanrio store, I bought myself a new set of pajamas, this time a long pants for the colder weather ahead. I love the pink silky bows on the pants. I also got a bunch of random "necessities" -- earrings, coin wallets, cute note pads, stickers, a new wallet that I want to use for school -- it's roomy enough to fit all my cards, cash, and my iPhone inside so if I have to go somewhere, I could just carry that instead of my heavy tote bag.


♥ On Sunday, our good college friend invited us over to her new apartment for dinner. She recently moved back to the bay area, and started working close by. I am so excited to have her back, and now I can hang out with her a lot more often :) She moved into her new apartment around the same time when we were moving, the funny thing was, she bought the same set of dining table we had, the same brand of mattress, and we even got our iPhone around the same time! hahaha :)

I prepared a fruit salad, chocolate dipped strawberries, and some sushi to bring over for dinner.


We had yummy hot pot at her place :)

She got me a bunch of cute goodies from her Taiwan and Japan trip over the summer. I was so touched by her thoughtfulness. She also got us a house warming present -- a serving set that I've always wanted, these are great for serving appetizers or dips at parties.



♥ I've been waiting for packages all week long, but they never came :( and I was hoping for them to arrive on Monday, but turned out Monday was a postal holiday because of Columbus day. Yesterday I was disappointed yet again because it was pouring cats and dogs, and my mailman didn't deliver in fear that the packages will be drenched wet by the time I come home. Finally, after waiting for so long, I received my first Sasa package today :)

Kalmo reviewed the Kuan Yuan Liang green bean face powder on her blog recently. Unfortunately the green bean powder one has been out of stock on Sasa, so I got the Kuan Yuan Lian Job's Tear Whitening Cleansing Powder instead, which is suppose to contain mostly green bean anyway. I can't wait to try it out in the shower tonight! I also got from their line the cucumber toner, it comes in a two pack of a toner, and a sprayer for refreshing the face on the go or just to set makeup. I am having high hopes for Kuan Yuan Liang products because their products are all made with natural products, and have really good reviews on Sasa.

♥ Since I've been so crazy about nail polishes recently...

My local Ulta finally has the Essie Matte About You in stock! I was super excited when I spotted it on the shelf. This is suppose to be a matte top coat that you could apply to any nail polishes to give it a matte finish as opposed to the high gloss shine most nail polishes give. I tried it on tonight on top of Orly's Toast the Couple, it gives my nails such an interesting look, I love it! Essie Matte About You is a great product because instead of spending money buying full bottles of matte polishes, this top coat turns any of the polish colors you already own into a matte finish! Plus like all matte polishes, it dries super fast on the nails, which is a big plus for me because I am always the impatient one who end up smudging my newly applied polishes.

♥ No Buy! I've been hauling a bit often recently :p Instead of letting myself waste time checking out deals and making impulse buys all the time online, and to help me finish up all my goodies I already own at home, I've decided to join Edna and start our second round of No Buy Project! Our main focus this time is on makeup, since those are much harder to finish. But I'll also be keeping track of other products I finish as well in a separate list. I am not gonna lie, I get a kick out of looking at my list of finished products every time, hahahah :) I have a feeling the makeup hit pans will be much harder for me to do, but I shall try! Wish me luck!

♥ Hope everyone is having a fabulous week so far! And for those in California or elsewhere that are snowing/raining, stay dry and drive carefully! ♥